Asia
Asia was the largest continent on Earth; it made up a majority of the Eurasian landmass. Western Asia was where some of the Middle Eastern countries were located. A person who was from this continent was sometimes referred to as an Oriental. The equator, a line of latitude that divided the Earth into northern and southern hemispheres, passed through this continent. In the late 17th century, a cartographer created a map, from what was learned from European explorers and traders, of the lands that had coastlines on the Bay of Bengal, the Indian Ocean, and the Arabian Sea. The map included portions of the western, southern, and south-eastern Asian continent. ( , opening credits) During the 19th and 20th centuries, the Orient Express was a train route that traveled from Paris, in Western Europe, to Istanbul, located in Western Asia. ( ) In the same century, the Asian continent was a location of many Brush Wars fought by the two main opponents in the Cold War, the USSR and the USA, where these two supplied different groups with weapons to gain influence in Asia, but to prevent a full-scale war. This situation was similar to the involvement of the Federation and the Klingon Empire on the planet Neural in the mid-23rd century as was remarked by Kirk. ( ) In 1968, a government coup took place in Asia which was considered by Spock to have been "dangerous" for Earth's political development. ( ) In the late 20th century, Asia was seen on the photograph "The Blue Marble". ( ) From 1992 to 1996, Khan Noonien Singh was absolute ruler of more than a quarter of Earth's land mass, from Asia to the Middle East. ( ) In 2153, the first prototype of the Xindi weapon self-destructed over Earth; portions of this probe were recovered by a Vulcan transport in Central Asia, due to an undetonated charge in the vessel's engine. ( ) A 21st century-era political map of Earth was stored in the 's library computer in 2254. The Asian continent was seen on this map. This map was among the materials viewed by the Talosians when they scanned the Enterprise computer. ( ) Background information In the real 1968 a coup took place in the Western Asian country of Iraq. The 17th century map, known as "Harmonia macrocosmica seu atlas universalis et novus, totius universi creati cosmographiam generalem, et novam exhibens", was created by . A scan of the original can be found here Retroactive continuity: Several 20th century-era maps depicting Asia, or portions of it, were stored in the library computer in 2254. These maps included a continent projections map, an eastern hemisphere map, two political maps of the northern hemisphere, and a statistical map. These maps were among the materials viewed by the Talosians when they scanned the Enterprise computer. ( ) Decades later, a Central Intelligence Agency map was used for the remastered "The Cage". This map was published either in April 2007http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/world_maps/world_pol_2007.pdf or September 2008.http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/world_maps/world_pol_2008.pdf The difference, which was not noticeable at the resolution of the image from the episode, was the addition of Kosovo, which gained its independence between the releases. File:Earth continents.jpg|Asia on a map of Earth's continents. File:Eastern hemisphere graphic, The Cage.jpg|Asia on a map of Earth's eastern hemisphere. File:Earth map, 20th century, North Pacific.jpg|Asia on a 20th century-era political map of Earth's North Pacific Ocean region. File:Earth map, 20th century, Northern Hemisphere.jpg|Asia on a 20th century-era political map of Earth's northern hemisphere. File:Statistical map.jpg|Asia on a statistical map. External link * de:Asien fr:Asie nl:Azië Category:Earth geography